A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1907.
This free content was digitised by double rekeying. All rights reserved.
'Townships: Lunt', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp75-76 [accessed 11 December 2024].
'Townships: Lunt', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Edited by William Farrer, J Brownbill( London, 1907), British History Online, accessed December 11, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp75-76.
"Townships: Lunt". A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3. Ed. William Farrer, J Brownbill(London, 1907), , British History Online. Web. 11 December 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp75-76.
LUNT
Lund, 1295; Lont, 1302; Lond, 1349; Lount, 1350; Lunt, 1396; the definite article was prefixed down to the xvii cent.
Lunt is situated in the flattest fen district drained by the River Alt, which also forms its north-eastern boundary. The marshy pastures are liable to floods during winter and in wet seasons. In the southern portion there are cultivated fields where cereals and root-crops thrive in a soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay. Hedges are scanty and trees few and far between. The geological formation is the same as in Sefton.
It was formerly a hamlet of Sefton, but its separation seems to have been accomplished before 1624. (fn. 1) It has an area of 477 acres, (fn. 2) and the population in 1901 was 80. The road from Sefton to Ince Blundell passes through it.
St. Helen's well, close to Sefton church, is a wishing well; a pin had to be thrown in, and if it could be seen at the bottom of the well the omen was favourable. (fn. 3)
The township is governed by a parish council.
Manorially Lunt seems to have been a member of Sefton, but land in it is on one occasion said to have been held of the lord of Warrington, (fn. 4) suggesting a territorial connexion with the adjoining township of Thornton.
Richard de Molyneux, some time before 1212, gave to Richard Branch and to Robert half a plough-land to be held by knight's service and a rent of 6s. (fn. 5) In 1295 Robert son of Robert Branch granted to Richard de Molyneux an oxgang of land in Lunt. (fn. 6) A family which took surname from the place may have descended from Richard Branch. (fn. 7) Other families named Derleigh (fn. 8) and Fowler (fn. 9) also held land here in the fourteenth century.
Richard Johnson of Lunt was returned among the freeholders in 1600. (fn. 10)
John Lunt as a 'Papist' registered a leasehold estate here in 1717. (fn. 11)